by Tina Xiang
Xiang Tingting is an intern with Care for Children. Here she describes her experience representing the Care for Children charity at an exhibition in Beijing.
The third Expat Show was held in Beijing on March 26 to 28, 2010 and provided a platform for foreigners in China to share information, services and products.
Our PR and communications manager Kay said that, according to her past experience, there would be a lot of people and advised me to prepare for busy days. However, despite our expectation, there were not many people in this show. Maybe most people prefer to go out to enjoy the good weather. Nonetheless, was still a good chance to meet people and let more people know about our charity.
A little blond girl, on seeing the words "Care for Children" on our donation box, immediately put some money into the box. She said with bright smile, "Care for Children. Care for me." The girl didn't know what we exactly do. She donated the money out of care for children, children that she thought were the same as her. She may not know that the children we care for are not as lucky as her in having a happy family. But I was really grateful to the kind little girl who in such a young age showed a great interest and generosity to charity.
I also met some people who are doubtful about our job. A mid-aged woman after knowing we are an international organization and our boss is British, asked me with a doubting look, "Is it true that a British man came to China to help Chinese orphans?" I said that indeed it was true, and then I explained to her how we work with the Chinese government to carry out our national foster care project. She still thought it was impossible, shook her head and left.
There were also other charity organizations at the Expat Show that are concerned with fields such as the environment and disease as well as organizations like ours which are dedicated to unprivileged children in China. If I not attended this Expat Show, I would not have realized that there are so many non-government organizations. With so many disadvantaged groups needing care, I can't help thinking that although China's economy is developing rapidly, we still have a long way to go to ensure that all the people have a happy life.
